Exclusive | Two NYPD detectives faced brutal retaliation and fake rats while probing corrupt bosses: lawsuit

Two NYPD detectives allege in a bombshell lawsuit filed Saturday that they have become modern-day Serpicos, investigating police corruption at the highest levels only to be retaliated against by their own department — and even mocked with images of rats at their desk.Detective William Seidman, 42, and his partner, Detective Anthony Vidot, 57, were assigned to the city’s Department of Investigation in 2021 to root out corruption and bribery involving NYPD and city officials, their lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court claims.One investigation involved allegations that clubs in Midtown and Queens were paying cops and their associates for special treatment, like not issuing fines for noise complaints and ignoring other violations, sources have said.Seidman and Vidot were asked to run numbers from phones that had been confiscated from NYPD officers and city officials in a series of September 2024 raids.“We had the case in its infancy,” Seidman told The Post in an exclusive interview.“One of the first names that popped for us was James Caban.”James Caban was the twin brother of then-Police Commissioner Edward Caban.Soon other big names surfaced, including mayoral advisor Timothy Pearson and then-Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Philip Banks, the lawsuit claims.The two gumshoes went to higher-ups at DOI with their shocking discoveries.“When this comes out .

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you’re going to have worlds collapsing,” Seidman said he told DOI boss Audrey Feldman.“It’s going to take the police department down.”The detectives kept the DOI case close to the vest but frequently felt their NYPD bosses were fishing for information to get ahead of the probe that was about to ensnare top NYPD brass and Mayor Adams’ closest advisers, they alleged in court papers.It became clear that Sgt.

Vincent Deynes, their direct NYPD supervisor at DOI, was trying to get information to report back to their commander, then-Deputy Inspector Raymond Festino.Festino is one of five NYPD b...